Free Stuff! Verizon Service and Palm Pre Plus Giveaway

My Life List

Update: The Giveaway is closed, thank you all so much for reading and commenting. The winner announcement is over here.

Hello. Would you like a free Palm Pre Plus, and $300 worth of Verizon Wireless service? Yeah you would. Let’s discuss that further.

As you know, I’ve been partnering with Verizon this month to knock a few things off my Mighty List, and as part of the campaign, I’ve been using a Palm Pre Plus.

The idea was to see if the phone would be useful to me, and to find out whether Verizon would be better than my iPhone service provider. Of course, my iPhone service doesn’t work at my desk and garbles half my phone calls, so I’m a little angry about that. Angry in a “hurl my phone against the wall” kinda way. But I can be demanding when I’m paying through the nose for something that doesn’t work. We’ll discuss that more later.

For now, let’s talk about that giveaway. Verizon is offering a $600 Palm Pre Plus for free. It looks like this:

The winner will also get $300 of free service from Verizon, which looks like this:

Well, technically cellular service is invisible. It’s more something you sense in your soul when you don’t feel like hucking your phone out the window during a conference call. So in that way, Verizon is sort of like inner peace, but with less yoga involved.

I’m not required to review the Palm, and frankly I didn’t plan to, but a few of you said you were pondering new phone purchases and asked me what I thought. So here’s the stuff I liked:

Making calls. Primarily, I enjoy using my Palm as a telephone that will call people when I dial their numbers — people with whom I can have complete conversations until we mutually decide it is time to hang up. I carried both my iPhone and Palm with me while friends got used to my new number, and I can’t tell you how many times I called friends on the iPhone so they’d recognize my number, and then had to immediately call back on the Palm so they could hear what I was saying.

Dropping it in soup. So. Right after I activated my Palm, I kind of dropped it in soup. I was freaking out, thinking I’d have to admit I’m a terrible phone parent and ask for another phone. But then I just dried it off with my napkin and it kept on working. I did have to scrape some dried soup out of the charger port with a safety pin, but otherwise it didn’t even cough. Nice.

Taking photos. The phone takes killer photos, you guys. Here’s what a snapshot looks like straight out of the phone with no Photoshop intervention:

See what I mean? (Bryan took that, by the way. Thanks, B!)

Also, it has a flash! On the phone! Which means you can use it just like a regular point and shoot without having to lug around another gadget.

Making videos. You can record video on your phone. Do you hear me? We are living in the future, y’all:

Typing. I know not everyone agrees, but I like the tactile feedback of buttons when I’m typing. Some people find the buttons too small, but I didn’t have that problem. In fact, I actually used my phone to send email for the first time in my life because the email is so well integrated and it’s so easy to type.

Applying lipstick. Yeah. The phone has a compact on the back:


(Photo from the Palm Info Center, which has a detailed review if you’re looking for one.)

When I first saw it, I was irritated. Like, “Oh, I’m a girl! I want a girl phone that helps with my lipgloss.” Then I used that stupid mirror three times before I even activated the phone. My makeup has been flawless for the last month. Curse you, user testers and your uncanny insight into my demographically predictable needs!

Downsides? Because I use the camera and video constantly, I run the battery down pretty fast, which can be frustrating. So you might want some sort of battery backup if you’re not religious about charging your phone every night. Also, I tend to be an early adopter of mobile applications, and betas aren’t always available on the Palm. I realize that may not be a problem for… most of the world, but there it is.

All in all, this is a good phone on a great service. I actually think it’s a smart choice for bloggers because the camera and video are superior and it’s much easier to type, so you can do mobile updates easily.

The Giveaway

If you’d like a Palm Pre Plus for yourself, not to mention a lot of free service from Verizon Wireless, please leave a comment below promising that you will not use your new phone to text while driving, and that you will not drop it in soup within 24 hours of receipt.

Now for the fine print: You must be 18 or over to enter and live in the U.S. Multiple entries will be disqualified. Comments will be open until Wednesday morning March 31, 2009 at 11 a.m. PST. I’ll choose winners randomly using Random.org, and will announce later that day. Good luck! My fingers are crossed for you.

Published

1,047 thoughts on “Free Stuff! Verizon Service and Palm Pre Plus Giveaway”

  2. On my honor, I will try:
    To call people on their birthdays,
    To text in an appropriate manner,
    And to live by the Girl Scout Law.

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  6. LOVE! I don’t ever text or talk on the phone while I’m driving because it IS so dangerous and well, I’m not nearly coordinated enough to even attempt it. And, I love soup too much to let it be soiled by a palm.

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  7. PLEASE! I promise not to text while driving. I will probably text to let people know why I keep dropping their call…because I use a phone that sucks at being a cell phone.

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  12. Oh, I want one! I live in New York, where ATT also doesn’t work, and wistfully dream of working cell and data service. I promise not to drop it in soup, but can make no claims about baby gumming (which killed a previous Blackberry).

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  13. I’m a member of the “no phone zone” and will not text, or make soup, or drop my phone in said soup, so help me God.

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  15. I love this phone- I need to move into the 21st century, and this might actually help! I am willing to sacrifice my att service for it!

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  16. I would love one, please!

    As such, I promise not to be an irresponsible ninny and text while driving (I live in NYC! I promise to not even drive!) as well as avoid all hot liquids for at least 24 hours (including, but not limited to, soup, coffee, tea, borscht).

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  18. Umm, I’ve never sent a text before. Yeah. I’d love to move into the modern age. Thanks for the offer!

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  19. I so absolutely promise that I not use my new phone to text while driving, and that I will not drop it in soup within 24 hours of receipt (I’m in south florida afterall and it’s way too hot to be eating soup anyway! My mojito, wellllll, that’s another story….)

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  21. Please oh please pick me! I promise to keep my car a phone free zone. And I’ll keep the phone at least 10 feet away from soup at all times.

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  22. I will swear of texting and driving as well as avoiding soup when I have the phone with me. 🙂 Verizon is the only service that works at our new house, I am still locked in a T-Mobile contract so I don’t get reception inside. Would be awesome to switch to Verizon early!

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  23. I swear: No texting while driving OR eating soup. Also: No soup while driving. That’s just inviting trouble.

    Thanks to you and Verizon for the chance!

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  24. I promise that I will not use my new phone to text while driving, and that I will not drop it in soup within 24 hours of receipt. Within 48 though… no promises!

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  25. I will not drop it in the soup. But my last phone died because I was sitting in the driveway with a mocha watching my daughter ride her bike and when she raced up to me to show me how fast she could ride, she misjudged the stopping distance, rode over my coffee and squashed my phone. I tried to use it for a while after that, but the keys were permanently squashed and I could not dial any number that had a 7 or a 0 in it, and the screen was squished so I could not see who was calling so I stopped answering the phone.

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  26. I’d love a Palm Pre. I promise not to text while driving. And I won’t drop it in the soup. I’ll definitely try not to drop it in the bathtub.

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  27. I really need a new phone and this one looks fantastic. I never text and drive and would do my best not to drop it. Please pick me!

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  29. I won’t text and I won’t use it anywhere near soup. Verizon is actually one of about 2 carriers we get in Vermont so I could even use the service. I will try not to drop it in the bathtub but can’t guarantee as there may be pictures I need to get of my daughter to embarrass her in front of future boyfriends or girlfriends.

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  31. I absolutly love my Verizon service! If it weren’t for the great service, I would have drank the koolaid and gotten a iPhone by now. But I love the network too much. I need a new phone DESPERATLY and promise not to ever drop it in soup…or ice cream (true story). Or text while driving!

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  32. No texting while driving or sitting in darkened movie theaters, and no soup within three feet of the phone. These things I pledge!

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  33. Oh… the idea of a beautiful new phone with an actual keyboard. I could kiss my pain-in-the-ass BB Storm goodbye! And I could stay with Verizon, because I actually like them.

    I vow to never text while driving (watched that accident happen one day – bad news) and never to chat near soup.

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  35. I’m a struggling student and I would love a new phone. I hate soup and wouldn’t think of texting while driving. Thanks Maggie!

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  36. I promise not to use my new phone to text while driving, and that I will not drop it in soup within 24 hours of receipt.

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  37. Maybe it’s time for ME to have the coolest phone in the house! Would love to play around with this phone! I also promise not to text while driving but I cannot promise I won’t drop it in my soup. Clutzy!

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  39. I swear on unicorns that I will not text and drive. As for the soup.. no guarantees.. but I promise to try.

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  40. I promise not to text and drive, which I don’t do anyway, AND I’m not really a fan of soup, so there’s little chance of me dropping it in soup. For that matter, I’ll promise not to drop it at all for the first 24 hours, even if it means I only set it on tables!

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  41. i love my palm pre. have been a palm OS girl since high school. what can i say? i’m pro team palm! glad you’re having fun with it!

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  44. I don’t have a car, so texting while driving is a total non-issues. I can’t really make any promises about the soup though, I’m severely uncoordinated.

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  46. I would really love to take amazing photos and video (specifically of my little diddle darling dumplin’ poo) with my phone which can also help me apply my makeup while not driving.

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  50. I will not drop this phone is soup and will not use it to text while driving, I pinky swear! 🙂

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